the.com/stockings
the original wearable status symbol, once flexed harder by kings than queens
means Close-fitting garments that cover the foot and leg, typically made of knitted or woven fabric and worn snug against the skin.
from From Old English 'stocu' (a stump or covering), related to 'stock' in the sense of a tree trunk or post — the leg-covering being imagined as a sheath that the limb plugs into, much as a stocking for storage sheathes its contents. Earlier these were called simply 'stocks' or 'nether-stocks' (lower stocks), distinguished from 'upper-stocks' worn higher up; the diminutive '-ing' form crept in and stuck. The kingly flex in the essence is true: in earlier centuries men's fashion showed off the leg, and a well-shaped calf in fine silk hose was a genuine point of male vanity at court.
- royal flex
- Elizabeth I wore silk stockings and refused cloth forever
- male origin
- Men wore them centuries before women did
- machine first
- 1589 knitting frame predated most textile automation
- wartime gold
- Nylon shortages sparked black-market stocking smuggling
- painted on
- Women drew fake seams on bare legs during rationing
christmas stockings — traditional hung by fireplace on december 24th, filled with small gifts on christmas morning
stockings market crash — wall street crash of october 1929 that wiped out $30 billion in wealth
silk stockings scandal — 1920s-30s women wearing silk hose publicly, considered scandalous and illegal in some places